1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a stamped and formed single piece electrical terminal for use in sealed electrical connectors, in particular electrical connectors with family seals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Single piece stamped and formed electrical receptacle terminals are often provided where compact and cost-effective electrical terminals are required. For example in European Patent 178 102 a single piece stamped and formed electrical receptacle terminal is provided in a substantially box-shape comprising a bottom wall, side walls and a top wall defining a cavity for receiving a complementary terminal therein. The side walls have contact protrusions inwardly stamped for resiliently abutting the mating pin terminal, the side walls further provided with outwardly biased resilient locking lances for engaging a complementary shoulder in a cavity of a connector housing. It is typical with connectors having a high density of terminals (i.e. a small pitch between adjacent terminals) to be provided with a single sealing member at a wire receiving end of the housing. Such sealing member is typically made of an elastomer and comprises a plurality of holes through which the terminals are inserted as they are mounted into their respective cavities of the housing. Sharp edges of the contact may damage the seal during insertion. A particular problem arises when one or more of the terminals need to be extracted during maintenance or repair. In the design according to EP 178 102, the resilient locking lance would be damaged, and may also damage the seal during extraction. In larger two piece terminals, it is known to provide means (protrusions) adjacent the locking lances for protection thereof as shown in DE 41 31 470. For miniature single piece terminals as shown in EP 178 102 this is difficult to implement due to the compact size of the terminal and the lack of sufficient material adjacent the locking lance. The problem is particularly acute where the miniature terminal is provided as a substantially square cross-section profiled box-shape. The side walls along which the lances are provided are reasonably narrow in relation to the locking lance, i.e. the lance extends across a substantial part of the width of the side wall due to the requirement for a certain minimum strength. Cylindrical terminals face a similar problem.